Near the center of the building was a large storm grate. He walked over to it and could hear running water far underneath even though he couldn’t see the bottom. The square holes in the grating were large, over an inch on a side. He glanced up at the second story window that pointed in the direction of Susan’s hiding spot.
The cameras were clearly visible throughout the warehouse. The one over his head pointed at the entrance. The other two sat in opposite corners near the rafters. They were angled in such a way that they captured most of the building interior. If all went according to plan, they would give Alyssa the evidence she needed to orchestrate the most important part of their disappearing act. The thought of owing her a favor made him squirm, but it would be worth the price. It might give him the opportunity to keep his friends safe and get out from under the Shadows’ thumb. Darien pushed his concerns from his mind. He needed to be focused, now more than ever. He walked over to the storm grate, sat down, and waited.
He heard several cars splashing through puddles and pulling to a stop near the entrance to the warehouse. Red and blue light flashed from the front windows, but he never heard any sirens. The lights turned off shortly before he heard car doors slam shut. It wasn’t long before the entrance creaked open, showing Lieutenant Olson and a group of four men. They stepped across the threshold and closed the door behind them.
As soon as they entered the warehouse, the lieutenant’s escort fanned out to the walls and checked behind crates and barrels. They had their weapons drawn and swept the building as they advanced. Olson continued to walk forward, stopping when he was only a few feet away. He waited for his men to finish their sweep before he spoke.
“Why are we here? It doesn’t look like you’re in danger.”
Darien took a deep breath. “It’s simple really. I want to make sure that if I go with you, my friends won’t be harmed. You have to promise me that you’ll leave them alone and stay out of their lives.”
Olson rubbed his fingers up and down his cheek as he considered the proposal. “Fine. I have no interest in them. My superiors only want to talk to you. Your friend, Erik, was an unfortunate accident. It’s my hope that you agreeing to come with us will make sure we don’t have any more accidents.”
“It wasn’t an accident, you asshole! You ordered your men to shoot to kill.”
Olson shrugged. “I was in pursuit of a wanted criminal. It turns out that your friend associated with some very unsavory types.”
Darien felt the tension spread from his neck down to the tips of his fingers as he curled them into fists. He needed to stay calm. That was the only way he was going to make this bastard pay for what he did to Erik. He forced himself to uncurl his hands and rub his palms on his pants.
“Now, let’s get out of here.” Two of the officers stepped forward.
“Not yet.”
“What now? I’m running out of patience.”
“I want you to protect my friends. They don’t know what’s going on and the police wouldn’t believe me if I tried to explain it to them. You know that as well as I do. I want you to keep other threats away from them. That’s the price for my full cooperation.”
The door banged open, and all the men drew their guns as they turned to face the entrance. A jaguar bounded through and growled in anger and warning. She was followed by two wolves and a human male dressed all in black. He looked around at the guns pointed in his direction and glared at Darien.
“What’re you doing here?” the man spat as he looked at Lieutenant Olson.
Olson held out his hand and gestured for his companions to lower their weapons. They did, but kept them ready in their hands. The lieutenant made no attempt to disguise the contempt in his voice. “I’m taking the prize back to my superior. Your methods have failed, again.”
Darien’s mouth dropped. “You know each other?”
The Shadow didn’t respond to Darien’s question. He stepped forward until he was within an arm’s reach of the lieutenant. His animal companions walked behind him, emitting a chorus of growls as they advanced.
“Sasha sent me to fetch him. She’s waiting. You don’t want to cross her, human.”
“You know who I answer to. Do you think for a moment I’m afraid of some little panther and her pet? He’s coming with us. He just agreed to it.”
The Shadow whirled to face Darien. “Sasha said you’d come willingly, in exchange for protecting your friends!”
The lieutenant lifted his gun and pointed it at Darien. “What game are you playing?”
Darien’s mind churned with what he had just seen. He didn’t expect Lieutenant Olson to know about Sasha and Inky. But, his plan could still work. It might even work better if he could play the two against each other. He swallowed before speaking, hoping that his words came out strong.
“No game, Mister Olson. You’ve both threatened, beaten, and in some cases, killed my friends. I’m here to make sure they’re safe. I realize the only way that’s going to happen is if I cooperate with one of you. The way I look at it, I should go with whoever’s better equipped to protect the people I care about.”
As he hoped, the two groups turned to each other. The officers raised their guns and the animals crouched down, hackles raised and legs taught. Darien turned to the window, hoping Susan saw the signal. For the moment, no one paid him any attention. He closed his eyes and tried to focus.
The roof buckled with a deafening crash. Everyone looked up at the sound. The metal rattled as something large rolled across it. The first explosive went off near the door, making people and animals stumble and reach to the ground for balance.
One guard ran to the door even though it was covered in flames. He tried to turn the handle and jerked his hand back. He tried driving his shoulder into the door, but it held against the impact. The rest of the officers opened fire and the animals jumped forward. The jaguar went down, bleeding from several wounds, but the wolves were too quick. The Shadow in human form shifted into a crow and dove at one of the officers, clawing at his eyes.
The flames near the doorway erupted, rising like a gigantic wave and sliding forward. The man near the door screamed and ran around as his clothes ignited in the blaze. Darien squeezed his eyes tighter and knelt down on the grate, trying to block out all the sensations. A wolf struck him from behind, knocking him flat on his face. He felt and tasted blood flowing out his nose and the corner of his mouth. The beast snapped at his neck, scratching it as Darien jerked his head away.
The body on top of him went limp and became dead weight as bullets slammed into it from the side. Darien didn’t know if it was Susan or one of the government goons, but he didn’t care. He squirmed out from underneath the body and rolled to the drain. He hooked his fingers in the openings and pulled until he was laying on top of it.
Blood dripped down into the darkness and he broke into a sweat from the growing heat. Another crash echoed from above, and a large bear claw punched through the metal roof. Darien hoped that was Richard’s hand, and he was taking care of the situation. There was little he could do to help from down here.
Darien tried again, slowing his breathing and trying to use that to empty his mind of everything. An explosion jarred him back into the present as he rocked forward from the blast. Darien pictured the fire from the cave, letting it consume his worry and his pain. He thought of a rat, a small creature that would be able to scurry through the grate to freedom.
When he opened his eyes, he knew he was successful. The entire warehouse seemed several times larger than it had been moments before. He rushed forward on his short legs to the grate opening. He squeezed his head and shoulders through and was just about to drop when the crow cawed and clutched at his tail with its talons.
Darien squealed as his tail was pinned against the hard metal ridge of the grate and his entire body hung by his tail. He felt like it would rip off any second. He squirmed and kicked but couldn’t free himself. The crow reached forward with its beak and tried to grab him by the
leg. Darien twisted, swinging his body and getting out of the way of the attack.
The crow was about to lunge forward again when a torrent of fire consumed it. There was a secondary explosion from one of the barrels that shot flame down the drain. It singed Darien’s back, burning away the hair and searing his skin as he fell to the water. He blacked out from the impact and drifted on the current, bobbing like a piece of debris.
Chapter 21
“Where am I?” Darien groaned as he raised his hand up to his face. It felt wet and sticky. When he brought his hand away, it was red with moist blood. Something hard rested underneath him and pressed into his back. Everything was dim, and he could barely see a foot in front of his face.
Darien tried to sit up, but had to hunch over to keep from slamming his forehead into the stone ceiling. The sound of trickling water echoed all around him. He groped around in the darkness and determined that he was sitting on a stone ledge near a stream of running water. There was a wall on one side of him, and it sloped up to form a large arc over his head. He could still smell the fire and burning gas, and not just from his clothes. His body ached, but he was alive.
Crawling on his hands and knees, Darien made his way down the tunnel, following the flow of water. As he made his way forward, the rushing water grew louder. It echoed off the walls around him and drowned out all other sound.
The drain dumped into a large lake causing a miniature waterfall. It was still raining and the flow of water came up to his elbows. Darien stopped at the edge and looked out. It was a ten-foot fall to the pool of water down below, and the surface was only visible when lightning flashed across the sky. A bolt struck the surface, and white light spread through the lake before disappearing. Darien gripped the edge of the passage and crawled out the mouth, hanging by his fingers.
Darien’s hands slipped off the stone and he plummeted to the water. As soon as he broke the surface, he kicked hard, swimming to the top. His head broke through and he gasped for air. With strong strokes, he made his way to the edge. When the water became shallow, he stood up and ran forward as fast as he could, carving a wake.
He sank to the ground on the bank and rolled onto his back, gasping for breath. His back stung, and he could taste fresh blood on his lips. His clothes were drenched and tightened around his body when he squirmed. Off on the horizon, he could see the light against the sky caused by the fire in the warehouse. Darien rolled back over and crawled on his hands and knees out of the small cavity where the lake was.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a voice asked.
Darien looked up through the rain and saw a tall pale woman wearing a black dress. It clung to her slim form and her long hair hung down in front of her as she leaned forward, sending streams of water into his face. Her eyes flashed yellow for a moment in the limited light and he knew it was Sasha. He tried to stand up, but the heel of her boot blocked his vision. Everything became dark.
Darien stirred, and reached up to his forehead. There was a tender spot in the middle that hurt when he pressed on it. He slid his hand over his face and pulled it away. His hand was dry, so at least the bleeding stopped. He looked around, trying to see where he was. The room was pitch black and he felt cold stone underneath him. It was smooth, and he couldn’t feel any ridges as he crawled around exploring with his fingers. He reached a wall and flattened his palms against it.
He walked his hands up the wall until he was standing, and then reached as tall as he could. The roof was too high for him to reach, so he had no idea how tall the room was. Darien left one hand on the wall and walked around the perimeter. It was a box, about four paces to a side. The only thing that felt out of place was a wooden door set into the center of one wall. He explored the entire surface but found no handle, window, or hinges. It felt like a solid piece of smooth wood. Darien drove his shoulder against it until he bruised, but the door didn’t even rattle in its frame. With a resigned sigh, Darien collapsed on the floor.
It was impossible to tell how much time passed until the door opened. Darien raised his hands in front of his face to block out the blinding white light that filtered in. His eyes had trouble adjusting. Everything he saw was fuzzy and indistinct. He saw two people standing in the doorway and a long hallway stretching behind them. He was still shielding his eyes when the people walked in and grabbed his arms. Darien tried to pull against them, but they were strong and tightened their grips hard enough to hurt. They dragged him forward, the toes of his feet sliding against the stones as he hung between them.
When they were in the hallway, Darien swung his legs out. He braced both feet against the wall and pushed hard. His legs extended like a coiled spring, and he jerked his arms free. The men stumbled as they tried to regain their footing. Darien got to his feet and charged one of his adversaries. He drove his shoulder into the man hard, forcing him back. His head struck the wall with a crunch, and he dropped to the floor.
The other man reached forward and tried to stab at Darien with something. Darien jumped back and saw electric current crackling on the man’s taser. Darien watched the man settle into a fighting stance. Darien turned and ran. He knew he couldn’t win that fight. The man behind him was giving chase, but Darien knew not to slow himself by looking back.
He reached a set of steps and bounded up them three at a time. The stairs turned a sharp corner, so he grabbed the banister and swung his legs around. Above him, the stairway ended in a wooden door. He tried the handle, but it was locked. He pressed his good shoulder against the wood and pushed. The door shook, but otherwise held firm. Darien pounded on the barrier with his fist and shouted for help.
His pursuer turned the corner beneath him and ran forward with his weapon crackling. He pressed the prongs against Darien’s back and shot electricity through his body. Darien convulsed as the energy coursed through him. He fell to the ground twitching—still aware but unable to move as every muscle contracted at once.
With a grunt of satisfaction, the man pulled Darien to his feet and pushed him down the stairs. Darien stumbled forward. He regained enough control of his body to keep from tumbling down the steps. His captor kept the taser close and made it crackle a couple of times to remind Darien it was there. Once they were back on the bottom floor, the two of them continued down the hallway underneath the fluorescent lights. It gave Darien the impression of a medieval dungeon retrofitted with modern amenities.
This passage ended in a large archway that led into a temple. A familiar stone tablet sat in the center of the room, underneath a glass dome that stretched up to the sky. The peak of the dome was more than fifty feet above Darien’s head. Stone pillars stretched up to the frame, supporting it with artistic carvings of gargoyles bearing a great weight. The chamber was round, with only the single door. Someone had placed floodlights on the ground around the perimeter of the room, casting deep shadows everywhere.
Sasha stood in the room near the altar in her panther form. Standing in the heavy shadows near her was Inky. Once again, she seemed to be surrounded by her own separate shadow that hugged her form and made her difficult to see. Also inside the room were two dogs, one woman, and a large lion. The dogs were both Dobermans. Drool dripped out of the corners of their mouths. All eyes focused on Darien as his escort pushed him forward. The marking on his chest burned.
The door closed and locked behind him with the sound of a large bolt sliding into place. Darien looked for another exit, but the only ways out of the room were the door and the glass far above. Neither option seemed viable and he felt the fight leave his body.
“Face it, Darien. You’ve lost.” Sasha looked pleased with herself as she walked forward, savoring the moment.
At the sound of her voice he picked up his head and stood a little straighter. “It’s a damn shame you didn’t come to the warehouse. You missed a good party.”
“And your little stunt cost us lives that will be hard to replace. For that, I hope the ritual is extremely painful for you. Once you join us, we’ll sho
w you what real power means and what you’re truly capable of.”
Darien spat onto the floor at her feet. “You’re murderers, and I’d never become one of you. Might as well kill me now and save us all some time.”
Sasha purred in short breaths, sounding like a chuckle. “Do you think you’ll have a choice? The ritual doesn’t give you a chance to become one of us. It wakes something inside of you and that something consumes you. The only way to survive is becoming a Shadow. It doesn’t matter what you think or feel, foolish cub.”
“Just because you’re too weak to resist, doesn’t mean I am.”
Sasha hissed, and her back legs tensed. With a strong leap she soared through the air at him. Darien gave into his rage, taking on the shape of a wolf. Sasha passed over his shorter form and landed behind him. She whirled to face her prey. Darien spun on the man who escorted him into the temple. He lunged at the man’s throat before he could bring his taser around. Darien’s teeth bit into the flesh and he ripped out half the throat as the two of them fell to the ground. The taste of blood in his mouth invigorated him and fueled his rage. He looked around for his next prey.
One of the dogs ran straight at him, trying to catch him off guard. Darien jumped off the dead man’s chest to slam into the other canine. The two animals rolled in a flurry of snapping jaws and clawing paws. When they stopped, Darien stood over the lifeless dog, blood flowing from his mouth and coating the stones of the floor. The remaining animals circled around Darien, keeping their distance and trying to surround him. He backed up until he felt the wall touching the base of his tail. He couldn’t see Inky or the other human, but he didn’t have time to look as his adversaries approached.
The Shadow Chaser (The Sheynan Trilogy Book 1) Page 18